8 Lessons in Entertainment PR for artistes

Joy Mboya is so legendary. She was moderating at The GoDown’s Creative Entrepreneurship Class.

If you are keen on building a brand in the entertainment scene, I am starting to share stories and videos around my life as a Publicist and you might like them 🙂 First off – I am so tired of receiving half-baked emails announcing new songs and releases from artistes that at any given opportunity, I want to give lessons in PR for free.

A post shared by ANYIKO OWOKO (@anyikowoko) on May 20, 2017 at 1:20am PDT

I am so thankful to the few institutions that have recently given me a platform to do this – HEVA & The GoDown’s Creative Entrepreneurship Class. From the two sessions, I compiled 8 lessons in PR & Communication for your following:

KNOW YOUR BRAND

It is very difficult to promote what you haven’t defined. That means that you can’t target a specific audience or can’t make a product for a particular market let alone go mainstream. Only well-packaged brands sell well and nothing can sell without good packaging. Brand new artistes – I can’t help promote your song or name without knowing the story behind your brand and what defines you. Take time to share this info with media and press.

STRATEGIZE

Every single thing is made better with a proper strategy. It’s great that artistes make songs and art out of inspiration but it’s not random how top artistes deliver their products and releases. Every single thing Beyonce does is calculated – and so should every single step you take in your career. Invest in a company and management that sees and ceases opportunity at the most appropriate time, and one that plans for this way ahead of time.

This was at HEVA Forum, showing some artistes managers how to draft proper artistes bios and press kits.

3. CREATE A WORTHY STORY

There’s no point of selling a story not juicy enough or telling a narrative not unique enough. Think twice about who you portray yourself to be. It might be smarter to change your brand and narrative, even if not true, just to stand out from the rest. Remember, you are just a drop in the ocean and every single news story and post is now getting lost in all the social media platforms – you might want to promote/sponsor some of your posts that you feel must reach a targeted audience.

4. YOUR VALUE IS YOUR POWER

Your uniqueness is your value and only your strength can augment that. You must invest in your skill, connections and networks. As an artiste you must also practice more – it makes perfect. You must know when to give and take and how to leverage that using your value. Not all gigs will pay via check but some might give you exposure money wouldn’t buy. Be wise while scrutinizing opportunities.

5. DON’T BE FOOLISH

Steve Jobs said, “Stay hungry, stay foolish”—but please don’t be foolish all the time and be smart enough to put this in context. Act like a fool when it comes to opportunities and new frontiers but don’t let foolish people lie to you that you are all that. Always strive for greatness and be humble enough to appreciate new ideas and challenges. If you feel like you know too much or you are too good – you are foolish.

6. BE EXTRAORDINARY

Don’t be ordinary. Many people and artistes in particular don’t look beyond their nose. Look at a continent as your playing field and not a region or your local. Think and look at yourself as if you are up against the Goliaths of entertainment. If you did this – you would never blink or sleep without thinking of doing some epic shit, staying above the rest and keeping up with yourself.

Thank you Robert Njathika for this pic.

7. STAY ON YOUR LANE

Let your work ethic speak for you – not only your dreams. I am just about done with artistes coming to ask me to make them as big as Beyonce while you are not even half what Vanessa Mdee or Tiwa Savage is. You must pick mentors that you can depict and picture yourself in little steps that are achievable. Start somewhere – stay on your lane.

8. WHAT’S THE SECRET?

There is no one secret to building a brand other than hard work, consistency and good strategy. Please stop sending half-baked information on your brand. Take time to study yourself, the industry and your audience before you dive in.

3 thoughts on “8 Lessons in Entertainment PR for artistes”

So much to learn from in this post. Brilliantly articulated.
“Your uniqueness is your value, you must invest in your skills network and connections” (what a stronghold to hang on)
Thank you so much for sharing this and many other valuable points mentioned above. I am a big fan of the Music Industry and believe me, through all these shared lessons, Afro artists are definitely gonna rise to the toppest level. @AnyikoPr.